Strong mid level winds with a potential storm system brought high winds to the eastern mountains. 7 miles west of Westcliffe.
Every event with a place to put it; 6 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The episode as NWS PUB wrote it up.
Strong mid level winds with a potential storm system brought high winds to the eastern mountains. The strongest measured gust was 89 mph in the northern Sangre de Cristo mountains...7 miles west of Westcliffe. Wind gusts over 60 mph were also experienced near Walsenburg and in parts of El Paso county.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Pueblo, CO wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Nov 8, 3:18 AM MST, 4 hours 12 minutes earlier.
SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST COLORADO AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PUEBLO
318 AM MST FRI NOV 8 2002
WINDS AND SNOW REMAIN PRIMARY CONCERN TODAY AND SATURDAY.
CURRENTLY...KPUX SHOWING WIND SIGNATURES ACROSS ALL SANGRES AND WET
MOUNTAINS...AS WELL AS INTO TELLER COUNTY. SO FAR HIGH WIND
CRITERIA NOT MET AT OBSERVATION STATIONS...BUT RADAR COUPLED WITH
DRYING ON WATER VAPOR CERTAINLY IMPLIES VERY WINDY CONDITIONS ACROSS
HIGHER TERRAIN. PAC JET MOVING ONSHORE AND MAKING SHORT WORK OF
MOVING THROUGH SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.
PRIMARY CONCERN IS WINDS TODAY AND SNOW BEGINNING THIS AFTERNOON.
WINDS CURRENTLY ONGOING...AND WITH JET STILL APPROACHING AND UPPER
WINDS INCREASING...WILL CARRY THE WARNING THROUGH FRIDAY NIGHT.
NEXT SHIFT MAY NEED TO EXTEND WIND WARNING INTO SATURDAY WITH JET
OVERHEAD AND SHORTWAVES/SUBSIDENCE...MAY PUSH HIGHER WINDS DOWN THESE
PERIODS. RIDGETOP WINDS STILL SHOW UP ON XSECTIONS AT 40 MPH...WITH
50 MPH JUST ABOVE RIDGETOPS FOR TODAY...THEN 70 MPH JUST ABOVE
RIDGETOPS ON SATURDAY MORNING. AS FAR AS SNOW IS CONCERNED...SYSTEM
STILL LOOKS WARM...WITH 700 MB TEMPS -1 TO -2 C...ALTHOUGH 600 MB
TEMPS BETTER AT -8 TO -9. LAPSE RATES ARE 5C FROM 700 TO 500 MB. THE
PLUSES...EVENT LOOKS PROLONGED...WITH ACCUMULATING SNOWS BEGINNING TO
IMPINGE 18Z TODAY IN THE WESTERN MOUNTAINS...EXTENDING THROUGH 18Z
SATURDAY ACROSS WESTERN AND CENTRAL MOUNTAINS. AS ANOTHER S/W MOVES
THROUGH FLOW 18Z-0Z SUN...WITH 7C LAPSE RATES...COULD GET ANOTHER
GOOD SHOT THIS PERIOD. NUMBERS ADD UP TO APPROX 24 HOUR WARNING
CRITERIA. GOOD MOISTURE EXTENDS THROUGH 500MB AS WELL. BLOWING SNOW
WILL BE AN ISSUE WITH BLIZZARD LIKE CONDITIONS POSSIBLE FRIDAY NITE
THROUGH SATURDAY EVENING. WILL HOIST THE WINTER STORM WARNING FOR THE
WESTERN AND CENTRAL MOUNTAINS. WITH WET BULB 0 AT ABOUT 10K...WILL
START CRITERIA ACCUMULATIONS AT 9000 FT. WILL BE INTERESTING SCENARIO
WITH SUCH STRONG FLOW ALOFT AND EMBEDDED SHORTWAVES APPEARING IN
MODELS ABOUT EVERY 6 HOURS. WILL LIKELY SEE PERIODS OF HEAVIER
SNOWS. WILL CONTINUE SANGRE DE CRISTO MOUNTAINS AS WINTER STORM
WATCH...CURRENT PROGS SHOW MOST ACCUMULATING SNOWS IN THE WESTERN
MOUNTAINS...AND NOT CONFIDENT WITH WARM NATURE OF SYSTEM AND WIND
DIRECTION THAT CRITERIA WILL BE MET IN THE EASTERN MOUNTAINS.
ANOTHER NOTE...AS SNOW LEVELS LOOK HIGH...WILL NEED TO KEEP AN EYE
ON THE MILLION BURN SCAR AS RAINFALL IS POSSIBLE IN THIS AREA LATE
FRIDAY INTO SATURDAY.
BEYOND SATURDAY...COLDER AIR MOVING INTO AREA SUNDAY BEHIND JET
WHICH DIPS SOUTHWARD INTO TEXAS...LEAVING AREA IN NW FLOW. TEMPS AT
700 COOL TO -6C FOR MONDAY. NW FLOW ALOFT CONTINUES INTO TUESDAY...
AS N/S JET MIGRATES EASTWARD INTO KS. WAA BEGINS AS RIDGE BUILDS
ALOFT ON WED...WITH WARM WESTERLY FLOW CONTINUING INTO THURSDAY.
CURRENT GRIDS REFLECT THIS TREND...CHANGES NOT LIKELY.
THANKS BOU GJT FOR COORD.
.PUB...HIGH WIND WARNING THROUGH TONIGHT FOR WESTERN EL PASO
COUNTY AND TELLER COUNTY...SANGRE DE CRISTO MOUNTAINS...
AND WET MOUNTAINS. (ZONES 081-082-084-085-071-072-073-074-
075-080)
WINTER STORM WARNING IN EFFECT FOR SAN JUAN...LA GARITA...
AND CENTRAL MOUNTAINS. (ZONES 063>068 AND 058-061)
WINTER STORM WATCH FOR SANGRE DE CRISTO MOUNTAINS
THROUGH SATURDAY EVENING. (ZONES 072>075)
KCCOZ058>089-093>099-081600- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PUEBLO CO 702 AM MST FRI NOV 8 2002 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST COLORADO. .DAY ONE... A STRONG UPPER LEVEL SYSTEM WILL CONTINUE TO ADVANCE TOWARD THE AREA TODAY. IN ADVANCE OF THIS SYSTEM...HIGH WINDS WILL AFFECT THE EASTERN MOUNTAINS AND ADJACENT PLAINS THROUGH 6 PM. IN THE AFTERNOON...RAIN AND SNOW WILL BEGIN MOVING INTO THE WESTERN AND CENTRAL MOUNTAINS... AND SIGNIFICANT ACCUMULATIONS ARE ANTICIPATED. A WINTER STORM WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR THIS AREA THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH SATURDAY. AS THE SYSTEM MOVES EASTWARD...A WINTER STORM WATCH HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR THE SANGRE DE CRISTO MOUNTAINS TONIGHT INTO SATURDAY. IN ADDITION TO SIGNIFICANT SNOWFALL...MAINLY ABOVE 9000 FEET...HIGH WINDS WILL CREATE BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW. THIS MAY REDUCE VISIBILITY TO NEAR ZERO...MAKING MOUNTAIN TRAVEL VERY HAZARDOUS THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH SATURDAY. FOR FURTHER DETAILS ON THESE WEATHER EVENTS...PLEASE REFER TO THE MOST RECENT HIGH WIND AND WINTER STORM PRODUCTS ISSUED BY THE PUEBLO NWS OFFICE. .SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS ANTICIPATED TODAY AND TONIGHT IN THE WESTERN...CENTRAL...AND EASTERN MOUNTAINS AND ADJACENT PLAINS. REPORTS FROM OUR WEATHER SPOTTERS OF WIND SPEED...WIND GUSTS...AND SNOW ACCUMULATIONS WOULD BE APPRECIATED. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... THE WINTER STORM WATCH AND WARNING FOR THE WESTERN...CENTRAL...AND EASTERN MOUNTAINS EXTENDS INTO SATURDAY. ACCUMULATING SNOWFALL IS ANTICIPATED IN THE SAN JUAN...LA GARITA...AND SAGUACHE RANGES THROUGH SATURDAY EVENING. VERY WINDY CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED TO CONTINUE AS WELL. ON SUNDAY...SCATTERED SNOW SHOWERS WILL CONTINUE...BUT ARE EXPECTED TO DECREASE IN INTENSITY. HAZARDOUS WEATHER CONDITIONS ARE NOT ANTICIPATED AT THIS TIME SUNDAY THROUGH THURSDAY.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
6 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Colorado in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Colorado, November 2002
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5323465, 5323466, 5323467, 5323468, 5323469, 5323470.